Posts Tagged ‘Big E Langston’

We kick off the main card of tonight’s show with the first ever Tag Team Elimination Chamber match. The WWE Tag Team Championships are on the line in this one. The Prime Time Players enter first. Los Matadores come in next and El Torito is hoisted up and stands on top of their pod. Apparently, he will be allowed to stay in the chamber as well. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd come out next. And New Day are the final entries to be locked in a pod. This leaves The Ascension and Lucha Dragons as the only two teams left, thus those two teams start the match, assuming that we don’t see Luke Harper & Erick Rowan pull an Edge and steal somebody else’s spot. Here comes The Ascension. Only one team left to enter. And here come the Lucha Dragons. No surprise entries in this one it seems as the Chamber is locked.

Ascension aggressive early, but Lucha Dragons counter into simultaneous Moonsaults. Konnor chucks both Lucha Dragons out to the steel grating. They take turns kicking Konnor in the head. Kalisto hits a Flying Crossbody, following by a Flying Senton from Sin Cara. Dragons work over Konnor and Viktor in the corner. Ascension both turn the tables and beat down the Lucha Dragons in the corner. Kalisto goes to the top of New Day’s pod while Ascension work over Sin Cara. New Day pull Kalisto’s legs through the chains and prevent him from helping his partner. Both Ascension climb to the top rope and try to pull Kaliso off the pod, but Kalisto kicks them both in the head and knocks them down. Sin Cara goes up to the top of Cesaro & Kidd’s pod. Sin Cara hits Viktor with a Senton from the top of the pod. Kalisto is still sitting there on top of New Day’s pod. Now he stands up and Lucha chants, but New Day trip him again and crotch him on top of their pod’s chains.

Countdown ensues and the next team is released and it’s Cesaro and Kidd. Cesaro and Kidd work over The Ascension and get a near fall on Konnor with a 3D into a European Upper Cut instead of a Cutter. Kidd goes up after Kalisto and tries to free him from the top of New Day’s pod. Kalisto knocks him down and Cesaro leap frogs Kidd and lands on the top rope and then hops up and hits Kalisto with a Flying European Upper Cut. Cesaro then Superplexes Kalisto from the top of the pod and Kidd hits a Springboard Elbow Drop off the top rope and makes the cover, but Sin Cara breaks it up in time to save his partner from elimination. Cesaro and Kidd chuck the Lucha Dragons out of the ring. Now, they go back to beating on Ascension while Lucha Dragons get a breather outside the ring. Viktor flattens Kidd and covers him, but Cesaro makes the save. Kidd trips up Viktor and puts him in the Sharpshooter. Konnor quickly breaks it up. Cesaro throws Viktor out of the ring. Sin Cara back in with a whirlybird special and drives Cesaro into the mat. Kalisto goes for a Hurricanranna on Cesaro outside the ring, but Cesaro catches him. Kalisto ends up on the chains and climbs up on the PTPs pod. Lots of near falls and powerslams in the ring while Kalisto stays on top of the pod while we get a new countdown.

Los Matadores come in and El Torito dives off the top of the pod an dhits a Hurricanranna on Cesaro. Bodies everywhere as Kalisto climbs all the way up the ceiling of the pod and hangs swinging from the top of the pod and lets himself fall down into The Ascension and Cesaro. Los Matadores go for some covers, but don’t get a three count on anybody. Now Torito is copying Kalisto. Torito drops off on Ascension, but is caught and then chuck him into Primo out of the ring and then hit Epico with the Fall of Man and get a three count for the first elimination. Lucha Dragons dive in and take down both members of The Ascension. Ascension back on the attack and hit Kalisto with the Fall of Man and cover him for their second elimination of the match. Ascension work over Kidd and Cesaro as we get a new countdown and the Prime Time Players come in next. Of course, New Day is last.

PTPs battle Ascension and Titus clobbers Viktor outside the ring and throws him into the chain wall several times. Darren Young hits his Double Gutbuster finish on Viktor and covers him and The Ascension is gone. PTPs now work over Cesaro and Kidd. Kidd counters into a Spinning Fisherman Suplex, only to get steamrolled by Titus. Cesaro then Clotheslines Titus and puts Darren up on the top turnbuckle and hits a terrific Suplex to Young sitting on the top turnbuckle. Cesaro with a Gutwrench Superplex on Young while Titus Powerbombs Cesaro. Can’t have one of these matches without the cliche Tower of Doom spot. Titus hits Kidd with a huge Spinebuster. Young covers Kidd for a near fall. New Day is now clammoring to get into the match with all 4 men down in the ring.

Countdown ensues and here they come, using their numbers advantage and clobbering everyone. Cesaro blocks a Triple Suplex and both Cesaro & Kidd and the PTPs Suplex all 3 members of New Day and the numbers are reversed as it’s 4 on 3 now. Cesaro and Kidd lock Woods back in the New Day’s pod. Cesaro and Kidd dominate in the ring and execute the Giant Swing into a Dropkick on Kingston. Darren Young rolls up Cesaro from behind in a Schoolboy and gets the surprise three count and Cesaro and Kidd are eliminated.

It’s down to New Day against the Prime Time Players and now Big E has let Xavier back out of the pod and it’s a 3-on-2 beatdown. Big E and Xavier whip Titus into a Double Knee Blast to the face from Kofi in the corner. They choke Titus on the chains and kick the crap out of him outside the ring 3-on-1. Titus is now out of commission for the moment while they triple team Young. They set up for a move off the top rope, but Young counters and knocks everybody down and hurls Big E through the ropes in the corner where he crashes into the ring post and bangs his head off the pod. Everybody catches a breather.

Titus back up and knocks out Xavier with a Big Boot. Young drops Kofi onto the top rope and Titus slams Big E against the chains a few times. Kofi throws Young over the turnbuckle in the corner and sends him crashing to the steal. Titus catches Kofi and slings him into the chains a few times. Titus flattens Big E with a Clothesline in the ring. Darren catches Kofi off the ropes on his shoulders and does the Double Gutbuster finish into the cover, but Kingston kicks out for a near fall. Titus whips Big E into the ropes, but Big E catches him with an Elbow to the face. Big E with a Belly-to-Belly on Young on the steel. Big E charges Titus and is caught in a Powerslam for a cover and a near fall. Titus catches Xavier going for a Flying Crossbody and slams him down onto his knee. Kofi charges out of the corner and hits Titus with Trouble in Paradise, knocking him over with Woods landing on top of him. Big E and Kofi pile on in a three man cover and get the three count.

New Day celebrates as they retain the championships. Outstanding action in this one. It was hard to keep up at times. I’m not sure exactly what they thought they would accomplish by sending Kalisto up to dangle from the ceiling, but the move was very bland and they made him hang up there for a long time and he looked like he almost feel three or four different times. The match was anything but boring, even though it ate up the first 40 minutes or so of the Pay Per View. There was all kinds of moves that I’ve never seen before in decades of watching professional wrestling.

Within the last hour before the Kickoff show went live, it was announced on wwe.com that Rusev had not been cleared to compete and thus will not be a part of the Elimination Chamber for the Intercontinental Championship tonight, meaning that we have a surprise opening in that chamber match.

On the preshow, Booker T announces that his sources are telling him Rusev will be replaced in the Elimination Chamber by a former World Heavyweight Champion. That points to potentially The Miz, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Big Show, Kane or Randy Orton. Unless somebody like a Chris Jericho were to make a surprise appearance tonight.

Backstage, Kane is talking in the Authority’s office with all 3 members of New Day and New Day asks to be rewarded for helping The Authority out against Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. Kane reveals that he has decided that all three members of New Day will be allowed to compete in the Elimination Chamber tonight. Xavier asks if this means they will get a bigger pod so that all three of them can fit. Kane looks confused and says if that is going to cause a problem, he can arrange for New Day to start the match and make them go through every other team. Big E and Kofi then immediately cover Xavier’s mouth before he can make things worse and says it won’t be a problem, they’ll fit. So, the bottom line is that we know all 3 members of New Day will be in the match and they will not be one of the two teams starting the match.

Another announcement was made on the preshow, this time having to do with the Divas Championship match. A ruling has been made during the Divas Championship Triple Threat match, nobody will be allowed at ringside. That means that Brie Bella and Tamina won’t be in Nikki Bella and Naomi’s respective corners. That means we will likely have a better match than just a couple of minutes full of interference and then a quick pin and a new champion. However, even with them banned from ringside, I wouldn’t rule out some kind of interference taking place.

At ringside, the announce team talks about the Tough Enough auditions and then we have an impromptu, unannanounced preshow match as Zack Ryder makes his way to the ring. I don’t think Ryder has had a singles match on a Pay Per View / PPV Preshow in over a year. Tonight, he’s taking on Stardust, who lost to R-Truth on the Payback preshow two weeks ago.

Stardust controls the early going, mostly working the torso and Ryder’s left arm. Ryder counters a Vertical Suplex into a Neckbreaker and the tables are turned. Very nice Missile Dropkick from Ryder off the ring apron to the floor. The announce team plays up Stardust’s run-in with Stephen Amell on Raw last week. Ryder hits the Broski Boot and goes for the Rough Ryder, but Stardust blocks it. Stardust ends up winning with the Cross Rhodes. JBL says it’s now called the Queen’s Crossbow, playing up a potential Stardust / Amell program.

Tom Phillips interviews Lana. She sells the beef between her and Rusev and gets gooey over Ziggler. In case you missed Smackdown, Rusev is no longer waving a Russian flag. Instead, he’s waving a Bulgarian flag. That’s a step that seems like Rusev and Lana won’t be reuniting to swerve Ziggler, but you never know.

The Miz returns, announced by Summer Rae. Miz is wearing an even crappier version of his black man-dress from his last run. Not only is he a boring performer and a below average wrestler, but he continues to have the worst fashion sense of anybody on the planet. He’s interviewing Daniel Bryan on a Miz-TV segment. Miz does the typical heel thing and asks Bryan a question and then interrupts and answers it himself. Bryan says his career is not over and he WILL be back. Bryan promotes his upcoming book. Miz says that due to doctor’s orders, Byran can’t touch him and he can’t touch Bryan. However, Bryan says that he finds Miz-TV boring and has an alternative solution to continuing it and points to the back and Macho Mandow and Axelmania make their way to the ring and clobber Miz. Axel drops the leg on Miz and Miz rolls out to the floor and retreats. The Faux Mega Powers pose down with Daniel Bryan to end the segment.

Dean Ambrose is being interviewed. Ambrose says that no matter what the Authority has planned, he’s going down swinging. Roman Reigns shows up and says that Ambrose only has to worry about Seth Rollins tonight because he will be in the corner.

JBL closes down the preshow, standing inside the Elimination Chamber and reviews the rules of the Chamber match. The chamber is set up, so it looks like one of the two Elimination Chamber matches is coming up first on the main card.

King Bad News takes on Neville in a rematch of the King of the Ring Finals. They put on a good showing early, but this match was nowhere near as good as the matches they put on at Extreme Rules and in the King of the Ring Tournament. Barrett doesn’t like the way the match is going, so when he gets knocked out of the ring he lets himself get counted out. So, Neville wins and now Barrett wants to continue the fight as he ambushes Neville. Barrett then retrieves his royal accouterments and takes his time putting on his crown and cape, only to have Neville come up behind him and German Suplex him onto his crown, snapping the top off of Barrett’s scepter in the process. Neville then hits the Red Arrow to at least give the fans some resolution to the match after the crappy countout finish. Apparently, WWE thinks the fans in Baltimore paid to see a couple of 3-minute tag matches, a countout and an “I Quit” Match rigged with bad stunts and nobody actually losing by the rules of the match. Other than Sheamus vs. Ziggler and R-Truth vs. Stardust, there hasn’t been a clean and decisive finish to a match that lasted more than a couple of minutes. To recap match by match so far.

R-Truth beat Stardust cleanly

The Ascension beat The Faux Mega Powers in under 3 minutes

Sheamus beat Dolph Ziggler cleanly

New Day stole the 3rd Fall in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match when the illegal 3rd man (not even the illegal 2nd man) made the winning pinfall

Bray Wyatt beat Ryback after an exposed turnbuckle finish

John Cena beat Rusev in an “I Quit” Match in which Rusev didn’t really quit

Naomi & Tamina beat the Bella Twins

Neville beat King Barrett by countout

The Fatal 4-Way is coming up next. Should be an exciting finish to a typically underperformed show with poorly booked finishes.

Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler is the first match of the Main card and I was not expecting much out of this match. These two wrestled several times for the World Heavyweight Championship during Sheamus’ reign back in 2012, but I wasn’t impressed by their work together. Their match at Extreme Rules certainly wasn’t impressive. However, tonight was in my opinion the best match the two of them have worked together. Both guys put in a max effort whereas it seemed to me like they kind of coasted at Extreme Rules. I didn’t catch the moves that caused the wounds, but Dolph was busted open and Sheamus had a big welt forming on his right shoulder / chest area. I feel like Ziggler put on his best performance since losing the Intercontinental Championship back in January tonight, even in defeat as Sheamus wins with a Brogue Kick.

Backstage, Kane and Seth Rollins have a standoff where they rehash what they’ve had to say on Raw and Smackdown every week since Extreme Rules and the bottom line is of course that Kane isn’t sure what he’s going to do tonight. The storyline has itself been great, but this segment was just a rehash that WWE apparently felt they needed for the people that don’t watch Raw and Smackdown. If Rollins does not win, Kane loses his job.

Next up is the 2-out-of-3 Falls Match for the Tag Team Championship and this match had a lot of great spots in it. Tyson Kidd and Kofi were all over the place in this one and it was a rare quality match on Big E’s part. Kidd and Cesaro win the first fall and Woods starts calling for the Freebird Rule and wants to replace Kofi for the second fall, but is blocked by Natalya and Kidd takes him out with a dive to the floor. Kidd ends up hurt somehow, and a blind tag finish leads to the Big Ending as a double team and New Day takes the second fall. Cesaro throws a ton of upper cuts. The match ends with Xavier Woods sneaking in twin magic style to replace Kingston and covering Kidd for the win and New Day retains in a steal. I was expecting New Day to retain in some way because I’m pretty sure that WWE wants the title to change hands in two weeks when the titles are on the line in the Elimination Chamber for the first time in history. So, putting the titles back on Cesaro and Kidd only to take them away again in two weeks didn’t seem very productive to me when you could have New Day steal another win and get the comeuppance at the Elimination Chamber. New Day is not leaving the Elimination Chamber as the tag team champions though.

Bray Wyatt takes on Ryback next and I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t paying much attention to this one as it was taking place in the final moments of the People’s Champion challenge on WWE Supercard. I intend to go back and rewatch this match after the end of the show. In the meantime, Bray beats Ryback after Ryback hits an exposed turnbuckle and Wyatt finishes him off with Sister Abigail.

Over the next two weeks, the WWE has stacked up for us 2 Main Roster Pay Per View events as well as a 2-hour NXT Takeover, which if you don’t follow NXT is basically like a PPV event for them that they put on every 2-3 months. Starting May 17 with Payback, followed up by NXT Unstoppalbe on May 20 and concluding with a surprise Elimination Chamber PPV on May 31 that we only found out about 3 weeks before it takes place. Now, I don’t think these are going to be the best two weeks of wrestling of all time, or even all year, but it is going to be plenty of fun and it feels like anything can happen.

Let’s start with the top of the card this Sunday at Payback. We have a Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Championship that I am very much looking forward to. It is a near certainty that either Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns is going to be carrying the championship into SummerSlam where they will defend against a returning Brock Lesnar. However, a lot can happen between now and SummerSlam three months from now. We now have 4 Pay Per Views stacked up between now and SummerSlam – Payback, Elimination Chamber, Money in the Bank and Battleground. We could see any number of things happen. We could see Seth Rollins lose the title at Payback and win it back in the Elimination Chamber. We could see Rollins survive both the Fatal 4-Way and the Chamber only to see Roman Reigns win Money in the Bank and cash in on him in a reversal of fortunes. We could see Ambrose get his first World Championship, though that one is a long shot. There are a lot of possibilities for WWE to play around with. I do think that Rollins carries the title all the way to SummerSlam without interruption, but it is far from a certainty with all that is laid out on the road between now and then. No matter what happens, this should be an excellent match with tons of action and mark out moments.

From there we move to the next biggest match of Payback with John Cena against Rusev for the United States Championship in an “I Quit” Match. John Cena has never lost an “I Quit” Match. I will be shocked if John Cena loses this “I Quit” Match. It’s not gonna be a classic. I expect Rusev to royally pound on Cena and maybe even go into full on prisoner torture mode like Randy Orton did in his “I Quit” Match with Cena back in 2009. But no matter what happens, Cena will not quit and he’ll eventually hulk up and put Rusev in some crazy variation of the STF using ropes or a chain or duct tape or whatever’s handy to sell that Rusev isn’t just tapping out to an ordinary STF and Cena will retain. Of that, we can all be certain. The United States Open Challenge that Cena puts on is the best match of Raw every week and Cena’s new role in the company is apparently to beat everybody on the mid-card. I actually really like this plan because eventually, he will lose and it’s gonna make for a huge push for whoever beats him for the title. Meanwhile, for the guys he’s beating, everybody on the roster has lost cleanly to John Cena multiple times, so there is no shame in it and it doesn’t hurt them at all. The only exception to that is Rusev in my opinion. One loss, not so bad, but you take an unbeaten monster and have him lose to John Cena at 3 consecutive Pay Per Views and there is just no point in it other than to destroy Rusev. Rusev should have just spit on the United States Championship picture after Wrestlemania and moved on to fight somebody like Randy Orton or Dean Ambrose and transitioned into a World Champion contender. But after losing 3 straight Pay Per View matches for a mid-card title, there is nowhere for Rusev to go. After he quits on Sunday, he probably has to go away for a few months and then come back and start all over unless they can find a new twist for him that keeps the heat on his character. Not that I mind seeing him go, but it seemed like WWE was really into what they were doing with him and now they’re letting him be broken all the way down. Anything is possible in WWE, so it’s always possible that through some trickery or a shift in Cena’s never give up schtick that Rusev could regain the United States Championship, but to what end? What does WWE have to gain by putting the United States Championship back on Rusev? He’s already beaten all the supposed big American badasses except for Cena, so if he finally beats Cena to reclaim the championship there then becomes nowhere else for them to go with his storyline. There becomes no more American challengers to throw at him. There is nothing left for Rusev to accomplish in that storyline and it’s past time to end it and find something else for him. Despite this undoubtedly being an incredibly violent match, it’s really gonna be just two guys taking turns punching and kicking each other and hitting each other with weapons while melodramatically screaming at the other one to give up. It will be brutal and hold your attention, but it will not be a very good match in my opinion.

As for the rest of the card, Bray Wyatt vs. Ryack is intriguing and has a very good chance to exceed expectations. However, it feels like WWE just threw these two together because they didn’t have anything else to do with either of them. Those kind of situations can lead to phenomenal matches, but more commonly than not matches under those circumstances tend to suck majorly. Then we have a Ziggler vs. Sheamus rematch and despite being a fan of both guys, I really just don’t care about this one. That stupid Kiss Me Arse Match at Extreme Rules has just made their entire program a flop to me and they haven’t done anything to save it. Sheamus is very athletic for a guy his size and I thought he put on some of the best matches of his career against Daniel Bryan and Big Show during his run as World Heavyweight Champion, but I haven’t been impressed by his matches with Ziggler in the past. And we all know Ziggler is phenomenal. These guys just need to be matched up against anybody but each other, it feels like to me. King Barrett takes on Neville in a rematch from the King of the Ring Finals, which is also a rematch from the Extreme Rules Kickoff show and other than the Main Event, this is my pick for the best match on the card. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd challenge New Day for the Tag Team Titles 2-out-of-3 Falls Match, which makes me think of last year’s Battleground with Harper & Rowan against The Usos in the same type of match in what I think was the best match of the year. However, as great as Cesaro & Kidd are, New Day is not that good and I expect a decent match out of this one, but not a great one. That just leaves the Divas Tag Match and the Preshow tag match and let’s just call those what they are – space fillers.

NXT takes over the WWE Network for the 6th time on May 20th with Unstoppable and right at the top of the card you have what promises to be a match of the year candidate for sure in Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn for the NXT Championship. Their last match wasn’t the match that I was expecting, but that’s because first and foremost it was a beatdown used to write Sami Zayn off of NXT TV for a couple of months and it was only secondarily a wrestling match. This time, I’m expecting a classic on par with the Sami Zayn and Cesaro matches of 2013 and 2014.

The NXT Divas look to be set for another amazing night with Sasha Banks defending the Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch. This is kind of the opposite of the Ziggler / Sheamus match for me. With Ziggler / Sheamus, I like both guys, but don’t think they fit well together. However, with Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, I don’t care for either lady, but their work together to this point has been riveting. Both ladies were a part of the Phenomenal Fatal 4-Way title match at the last Takeover along with Charlotte and Bayley and for this match the two had probably the most interesting contract signing segment I can remember seeing in a long time. As for Charlotte and Bayley, they team up to take on Emma and Dana Brooke in a Tag Team Match and Charlotte and Bayley have yet to put on a bad match that I’ve seen, so I have faith in this one though I’m not really feeling it.

Then we have the Triple Threat #1 Contenders Match between Finn Balor, Hideo Itami and Tyler Breeze. Unfortunately for Itami because I feel like he was probably slated to win this one, he’s suffered a shoulder injury and is expected to be pulled from this match. Whether he is replaced by another contender or it becomes a singles match between Balor and Breeze, it should still be a top notch match.

As for the rest, we have Baron Corbin taking on Rhyno. While the buildup for Baron Corbin and Rhyno hasn’t been as fun as the buildup for Baron Corbin and Bull Dempsey was, this match should be much better than that one was. And rounding out the card, Enzo Amore and Big Cass take on Blake & Murphy for the NXT Tag Team Championships and while Enzo & Cass are a great act on the mic, they aren’t really that impressive in the ring and Blake & Murphy just seem very bland to me, so I’m not expecting much out of these two teams as far as wrestling, but Enzo & Cass will no doubt rock the mic with a new variation on their usual schtick and the crowd with eat it up like candy. Also, I’ve felt from the time she debuted that her character has just been waiting for the right opportunity to stab Enzo & Cass in the back and with Blake & Murphy showering her with jewelry over the past couple months, I think the union between Blake, Murphy & Alexa Bliss could be a misdirect and Carmella could be leaving with the defending champions at Takeover.

As for the Elimination Chamber, we only know so far that there will be at least two Elimination Chamber matches – one for Daniel Bryan’s recently vacated Intercontinental Championship and one for the WWE Tag Team Championship. We’ve never seen a tag team Elimination Chamber, so we don’t know for sure if it’s gonna be 3 teams, 4 teams or 6 teams taking part. It could be 6 teams with multiple guys locked in each pod. It could be 3 teams with 2 guys starting and being handicapped without their partner until their partner is released. Or it could be 4 teams with 2 full teams starting out and 4 individuals locked in the pods with one individual released at a time, giving the teams locked in the pods the advantage of not having to wrestle the beginning of the match and get worn down, but also giving them the disadvantage of entering the ring without their partner against two complete teams, although theoretically worn down and weakened at that point. Any way it goes, it will be a first time and thus will be interesting. We also have a mid-card title being up for grabs in the Elimination Chamber for the very first time. And not that he’s really a candidate to win it, but I’ve read a lot of speculation about Adam Rose being booked as a part of that match and given somewhat of a push after his was featured on the E:60 NXT special.

While anything can happen on this schedule, I expect a fair amount of disappointment from certain matches on the cards as I have outlined. However, I also expect a few pleasant surprises and maybe even a big surprise or two and I’m definitely going to be glued to the TV on those three nights. $9.99 well spent.

Fresh off the heels of Extreme Rules last night, WWE will be back at it tonight and with a short schedule to promote the next Pay Per View, we can probably expect some big things in the works for tonight.

5) With Daniel Bryan out of action, I expect some kind of announcement about the future of the Intercontinental Championship. If not tonight, then sometime soon I expect the title to be vacated and a new champion crowned.

4) Potential face turn for Cesaro & Tyson Kidd. Despite being just thrown together, the two have been phenomenal together and both guys are incredibly over and with New Day stealing the titles from them at Extreme Rules last night, it makes sense for them to turn face and seek revenge against the inferior heel team that robbed them. And with the Usos out of commission for months to come, the spot of top face tag team is up for grabs.

3) Return of King of the Ring. WWE has announced that the finals of a 2015 King of the Ring Tournament would take place Tuesday night, exclusively on the WWE Network. That would mean that there will be some qualifiers / preliminary round matchups taking place tonight on Raw. Winning King of the Ring generally doesn’t mean much and any time somebody uses it to undergo a gimmick shift and start calling them King whatever after winning annoys me, but it usually generates some very good and unique matchups. I’m predicting Bad News Barrett wins the crown and scepter. Check out the brackets here.

2) What is next for Bray Wyatt? – After more cryptic promos in coming weeks, expect Wyatt’s next opponent to be revealed. I’ve read a lot of speculation that it’s either Ryback or Roman Reigns. As you’ll read in my explanation for #1, I’m expecting it to be Ryback, which intrigues me. It wouldn’t be my first choice. I think Wyatt is too over and would force the crowd to be behind him rather than Ryback and might set back Ryback’s character development if the crowd turns against him again. As we saw in 2013, Ryback as a heel is not a good choice.

1) Announcement of Seth Rollins next challenger for the WWE Championship. All of the speculation that I’ve seen has pointed toward a rematch between Rollins and Orton at Payback or perhaps a Triple Threat between Rollins, Orton and Kane. However, the trailer that aired last night at Extreme Rules featured Roman Reigns talking about getting revenge for somebody stealing his moment, which to me can only mean Reigns taking on Seth Rollins. Rumors abound that it could be Reigns vs. Wyatt up next while Rollins takes on Orton again or both Orton and Kane, but I’m leaning more towards thinking it could be Rollins defending against Reigns and Orton one-on-one against Kane.

Cesaro & Tyson Kidd defend the Tag Team Championship against New Day’s Big E and Kofi Kingston. Does Xavier Woods ever wrestle? Natalya and Xavier Woods are at ringside for this one. After Woods interfered in the #1 Contenders match to help Kingston & Big E beat the Lucha Dragons, this is the first of two heel vs. semi-heel matches of the night along with the Divas Championship match to come later. That makes things interesting. I wouldn’t rule out a potential face turn for Cesaro & Kidd soon. They are super over and with Jey Uso out of action, there is an opening for the top face tag team on the roster.

Kidd and Kingston start things off and exchange some tie-ups before tagging out to both Big E and Cesaro and it shifts to a power vs. power match. Cesaro ends up running the ropes and Big E goes for a Leap Frog, but Cesaro catches him and Powerslams him. Is there anybody that Cesaro can’t catch or toss in any given situation? I have yet to see him miss a catch or fail to lift somebody yet. They switch back to Kingston and Kidd and Kingston knocks Kidd out of the ring and then cheap shots Cesaro, Drop Kicking him off the ring apron and Kidd is playing it up as a potential face turn as he dives out to the floor, taking out Kingston only to then get flattened by Big E. Woods antagonizes the crowd during the New Day Sucks chants – “What did we do? We’re winning!” Kinda funny. Kingston & Big E are allowed to double team Kidd in the ring for whatever reason. Crowd gets behind Kidd as he tries to battle back, but Kingston gets a Dropkick and a near fall. Tag to Big E.

Big E starts clapping. Guess he thought there weren’t enough New Day chants. He goes for a Big Splash, but Kidd rolls out of the way. Kidd goes out to the ring apron and Big E tries to run him over, but Kidd drops out of the way and Big E crashes out to the floor. Tags are made to Cesaro and Kingston now and Cesaro runs Kingston back and forth across the ring, delivering multiple Clotheslines in multiple corners. Big Clothesline for a near fall and then goes for the Cesaro Swing. Instead he catapults Kofi into the corner. Kofi springs back at him, but Cesaro makes another incredible catch look easy and slams Kofi. Tags Kidd and hits a Superplex and Kidd comes off the top with a Diving Elbow Drop for a near fall.

Kingston battles back and tags Big E. Big E with a dive out to the floor, flattening Kidd. Puts Kidd back in the ring. Back Body Drop from Big E on Cesaro. Big E back in, tag to Kingston, double team maneuver for a near fall as Cesaro breaks up the cover with a Junkyard Dog style Headbutt. Kidd puts Kingston in the Sharpshoter, but Big E breaks it up. Kidd with a Double Footstomp on Kingston in the corner, tag to Cesaro. Cesaro knocks Big E off the apron. Cesaro Swing into a Dropkick for the double team. Cover, but Woods distracts the referee. Natalya pulls Woods off the apron and slaps him silly. Series of run ins and people are knocked out of the ring, leaving Kingston with Cesaro and Kingston Schoolboy with a Handful of tights on Cesaro for the three count. New Champions. New Day steals the titles and the crowd gives them some more New Day Sucks chants. If it hadn’t been for those chants every week after Wrestlemania, New Day wouldn’t be the champions. The fans did that one to themselves. WWE views any reaction as a good reaction, so when you respond with New Day Sucks chants, WWE sees that as a plus and sees the angle as working and as a result, they are now the champions.